Higher performance, lower cost, increased miniaturization of integrated circuit components, and greater packaging density of integrated circuits are ongoing goals of the computer industry. As these goals are achieved, microelectronic dice become smaller and power demands become greater. Decreased size, increased number of circuits and greater load demands put a greater demand on state of the art interface between the substrate and the load generating device, such as a microelectronic package.
Commonly, a microelectronic package consists of a microelectronic die coupled to a carrier substrate (collectively referred to as a microelectronic device) may be covered with an encapsulation material, a heat dissipating device or otherwise made into a finished package. A microelectronic package typically interconnects with a system substrate, such as a motherboard, a printed circuit board or an interposer, through a socket connection. A variety of sockets are used in the microprocessor  industry, most of which provide a relatively quick and easy interface between the microelectronic package and the substrate.
Current and other signals may be supplied to the microelectronic package through conductive traces in or on the substrate (commonly known as socket paths). Microelectronic devices require a steady state current supply to account for normal operation and current leakage. To perform certain operations, microelectronic devices and other load generating devices require a sudden increase in the current above steady state. This is often referred to as transient current demand.
To accommodate the transient current demands, decoupling capacitors are commonly used. Such capacitors are typically placed around the socket periphery or within socket cutouts in an attempt to get the potential as close as possible to the load. As the distance from the load increases, however, so does the loop inductance and resistance, which in turn decreases the effectiveness of the decoupling capacitors.
Given the increased demands/loads of today's microelectronic devices, one solution has been to place more standard “off-the-shelf” type capacitors near the socket. This is generally considered impractical, however, given the value of the real estate around the socket and the fact that inductance and resistance is still problematic. Nonstandard capacitors designed to have lower inductance and higher capacitance have also been used. Such custom components, however, are very costly and still may not adequately reduce the inductance and resistance to meet the demands of the microelectronic devices. 